Albania — Legal Help

Dial 112 for emergencies (129 reaches police directly). If arrested, ask for an interpreter, a lawyer and consular notification at once; procedural standards are improving under EU-accession reforms but remain uneven, and English is not guaranteed at station level. Embassies in Tirana provide lawyer lists and welfare visits only. Never pay an on-the-spot fine in cash without official paperwork.

The age of consent is 14 under the Criminal Code, but any commercial sexual contact with a person under 18 is a serious felony, and adult commercial sex is itself criminal for the seller under Article 113, with organisers facing years of imprisonment under Article 114. Foreign clients caught up in anti-trafficking raids should expect detention as witnesses at minimum.